Shhhhh! Double secret project..."The Good Earth" Quilt

There are a lot of words that describe me as a quilter, but the most prominent one in my mind at the moment is schizophrenic.  I've always worked on multiple projects at the same time by choice, but it seems like that has become a necessity lately.

As my husband and I continue to celebrate our 20th anniversary this fall, my father and step-mother prepare to celebrate their 40th anniversary in December.  I find there's a certain mathematical beauty to the symmetry of these events.

"THE GOOD EARTH" is an original quilt that I am planning to celebrate their anniversary.  I had hoped to finish it before December, but now I am just hoping to finish the appliqued large center square of the quilt to give them to mark the occasion.

This flower cart will be in the lower right of the medallion area.  My Mom loves flowers and loves beautifying their little corner of Alabama by planting and nurturing many varieties of flowers and trees.  

The fabrics I picked for the two flower pots will require a little defining outline embroidery after I finish the hand stitching and block soaking to remove the glues...the color is too similar to the fabric I picked for the bed of the cart...oh pooh!

I was inspired by the Phebe quilt as I started to plan my project. 

Phebe Warner's quilt, made by her aunt Sarah Furman Warner Williams, in 1803

A modern interpretation of Phebe's quilt, designed and made by Di Ford

I am trying to include as many elements as possible in the quilt that define my parents life together, their love of the earth, and their philosophy of maintaining wide, open, undeveloped land for future generations.

The central square will be 30-32 inches square, so I am prepping the applique elements in units before I decide on the final placement.  That is one thing I really like about the applique method I use...the ease and freedom of moving things around until I get the exact placement I want.

I am hoping that my parents are too busy to monitor my blog this month as I begin to share this project with you, so shhhhh...don't spill the beans! 

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

"Baltimore Rhapsody" Block 21 - the C clef...

The next block in the "BALTIMORE RHAPSODY" quilt odyssey is the C Clef.  The block measures 15 inches square, finished. 

Depending on which line of the staff that the clef's middle encompasses, this clef can be called the Soprano, Mezzo soprano, Alto, Tenor, or Baritone clef and the note centered on that line is middle C.

(from www.method-behind-the-music.com)

These clefs were used to identify "middle C" and to keep the notes of the musical passage from appearing off the staff on ledger lines, either above the staff or below the staff.  Reading music from ledger lines is harder to do and can really slow you down as a musician! 

Ledger line notes (from www.answers.yahoo.com)

C clefs are not used much any more.  The Alto clef is still used for some viola music.

Alto clef (from www.mrscheiber.com)

Music for cello, trombone, and bassoon is sometimes written in the Tenor clef when the notes become too high to fit on the bass staff.

Tenor clef (from www.nationmaster.com)

The clef is a sign placed at the beginning of each musical staff to indicate the pitches of the notes - this key unlocks the staff so that the music can be read and played/sung.

The C clef is a beautiful symbol and certainly more symmetrical and easy to design a block around with than the treble and bass clefs were.

I used the liquid Elmer's Washable School Glue (in my own bottle) instead of the Roxanne's Glue for the glue-basting.  When I soaked the block to remove the glue, it dissolved really fast! 

But, I was reminded by this soaking that I need to make sure each and every little thing has been hand stitched with silk BEFORE I soak...I found one leaf, connected at the stem, "flapping in the breeze" after I had gently squeezed my block between layers of a clean towel after soaking.

Ugh!  I basted the leaf in place on the damp block and was forced to do needle turn applique...my hat is off to all you people who do this applique method all the time!

I am working on another musical symbol block now...when finished I will have four blocks to make into a small quilt...the three clef blocks plus the current mystery block.  It's fun to think about possible settings for the smaller quilt...sashing? no sashing? pieced sashing? appliqued borders? pieced borders?

Which symbol will it be?!?  Stay tuned!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

The view from my chinny-chin-chin...

I was sitting here in the dark last night, nervously hand stitching on a block while watching a PBS show about Kennedy, waiting to hear news of my MIL's surgery, when it occurred to me...I have never shared one of my favorite tools that allows me to stitch ANYWHERE...the fantastic light that hangs around my neck.

It is called "Beam and Read" and there is a phone number right on it (but I also found it here on www.Amazon.com).  I am able to keep the switch in the "off" position while it is flat (as pictured above)...then just swivel the light head to the angle I want (it comes on automatically when the head is swiveled).  

I guess if you wanted to use it in the flat position, you could just turn it to the "on" position.

I love this thing!!  There are different versions, but this one has 6 little LED lights that are wonderfully bright...there are less expensive versions that have 4 LED lights, but I like how bright this one is.

It came with a colored filter to snap over the lights, but I have never used that...also came with a magnifying lens that you can snap on, but I don't use that either.  It takes four AA batteries, does not generate heat, and only weighs a little over 6 ounces.

I can sew in a dark room when my family is watching a movie, sew in bed, sew during meetings, sew ANYWHERE!!!  I used to use the clip-on book lights, but found those terribly inconvenient...the clips were clumsy and the lights not very bright...and they used those hard-to-find round/flat little batteries.  I would clip them on my hoop while hand quilting, which was clumsy...this is WAY better.

Weasley is fascinated with this old, beat up, but still functional sousaphone 

that I found at a junk shop over the summer.  Perhaps if I attached the mouthpiece, we would hear him tooting in the night when he is frisking about while we are trying to sleep. He enjoys slam-dunking cat toys in the "net-like" bell of the instrument.  I guess if he is ever missing, I will know where to look first...

  

On an unrelated topic, I was overwhelmed by the responses to my last post...thank you! Really, I promise I wasn't fishing for comments, but simply puzzling out all the things I don't understand about blogging (ha! which is everything...).  I never worry about the number of comments, but do, from time to time, check the stats for the number of page hits. The blog readers do cut into those statistics.  

Someone emailed me and told me how to determine the number of people who follow me on Bloglovin'.  And for grins, I signed up to "follow myself" on my own blog.  This morning, I got an email with that last post in it, which can be read without ever going to my blog. Interesting.  That makes reading a particular blog very nice and convenient, but no button for commenting, so THAT explains a lot...if I had an iPhone or iPad I would love that little convenience.

What was I thinking when I dragged THIS home over the summer? 

The fact that it almost didn't fit in my Subaru Forester should have been a hint...

I have no intention of stopping what I do...I appreciate and really enjoy...the online quilting community, even when I don't really know who is out there.  Google and Blogger have never made it easy for people to comment in the first place.  

I guess Facebook makes it easier for people to communicate with each other, or simply "like" something, and I do have a Facebook page (which is so neglected and not up-to-date at this point...).  My husband says I should start another one that just has to do with my fledgling pattern business and quilting.  

Hmmm...maybe when I master folding space and time...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Blog blah-blah-blah...

This is what my cat does when I am sitting at my computer, reading blogs, writing posts, working on patterns, or dreaming on Pinterest.

I think he is doing some sort of cat stretching exercises to make his short, stubby legs longer...not working...and this is what my husband does...

Maybe the cat learned it from my husband (or vice versa?)...I think it is working for Steve...his arms look freakishly long in this picture.

I am the first to admit that I am a complete idiot when it comes to blogging.  I started blogging as a quilt conversation and quilt diary. 
I love the feedback, the questions, the friends I've made, etc.

I barely know how to do the basics when it comes to posting, adding gadgets, pictures, and features.   Then, when changes roll down, like a Blogger update or new blog readers, I am completely clueless.

I would rather spend my limited time sewing on things to post than working on the actual blog...CONTENT over PRESENTATION any day.  I am a quilter first, blogger second.

When I get stumped on something technical, it is painful taking the time away from sewing to figure it out.  I have learned that Karen of SEW MANY WAYS is brilliant, and I turn to her great blogging tutorials to help me out (not to mention all the other amazing stuff on her blog).

I never used Google Reader, or whatever it was called, but when Bloglovin' came out, I sort of jumped on the proverbial bus and registered my blog there, thinking it might increase my readership.

I get daily emails from Bloglovin' with my "Bloglovin' feed," but have a difficult time even navigating that, so I just keep reading my favorite blogs from the side bar of my blog page, like I always have, or navigating from comments. 

I keep getting emails that "so-n-so" is following me on Bloglovin', but my actual follower number on my blog is not growing, and I feel like my readership is dwindling.  How do you people out there like Bloglovin'?  Is it working for you?

Of course, I know it is not a popularity contest, and I am probably just boring.  And I know I don't post enough...aging in-laws, the schedule of a teenager without a drivers license, and local/out-of-state demands on my time have made it challenging in the last few months.  

I have a tendency to try to only post when I have something interesting to show or talk about.  Maybe I should post more often, with less material to slog through per post?  I am also WAAAAY behind on reading and commenting on the blogs that I love. 

But I am determined to go forth, so any advice, comments, or input is welcome.

Someone told me that with more and more people reading blogs on their smart devices, that may be the reason that page views and comments are less.  I don't have a smart phone, or laptop, or a WIFI device...just an old-fashioned desktop PC.  I do get emails from people, which is lovely...maybe it is just too hard to comment on these smart devices...without a keyboard, I guess you have to be pretty motivated or provoked to send a comment.  You at least have to have a free Google account, and not everyone takes time to do that.

If I would take some time and figure out how to use Bloglovin', I would probably answer all my own questions, lol!  I am a dinosaur when it comes to technology.  If I had money to burn on smart technology, I would probably be more excited about learning how to use all this stuff.

I have a new large format scanner to learn how to make digital downloads of all my patterns...it is not as easy as I had hoped, and my techie/geekie other half has not had a lot of time for my nonsense lately due to work and ailing parental issues.

Please be patient with me if you are waiting for the finishing pattern or digital download.  Those items, along with the hand quilting of the symphony quilt, are progressing...although painfully slow. 

To keep my sanity with the progression of the three things mentioned above (and to have something to work on away from home and in meetings), I am continuing to work on new blocks for the music project ("BALTIMORE RHAPSODY") and "CONTENTMENT" quilt.  The handwork is my therapy as I deal with some of these pressing family issues.

Be patient with me (and maybe some of your patience will rub off on me, 'cuz I am running out of the stuff!).  I know we all have family issues that pull on us from time to time, but I am not managing the stress very well!

In stitches (and lately in pieces...),
Teresa  :o)

The "CONTENTMENT" quilt - block #7, our wedding day...

Your calendars aren't wrong, it really is November 6...things have been challenging, so the posting of this block is late.  This is the 7th block for my "CONTENTMENT" quilt, a story quilt celebrating our life together.  The block finishes 10" square and is part of our 20th anniversary celebration.

Here we are in front of the beautiful "Garten Verien" (historic German Garden Club), where we were married on Galveston Island, TX in October of 1993.  It was a fantastic octagonal wooden building with lots of "gingerbread" wooden trim set in a pretty municipal park.

I had so much fun drafting a wedding cake block for my version of the Civil War Bride Quilt (pictured below) - I thought I would do another cake block to represent our wedding day for this quilt project (especially since there is a "story" surrounding the cake...).

While in college, I worked as a commercial cake decorator at Auburn University.  This included about 100 wedding cakes.  To save money on our wedding and to make sure we got exactly what we wanted, I decided to do ours.  Since we were having a smallish wedding, we decided to only have one cake...no groom's cake.  

That simply isn't done down south, LOL..."people will talk...what, no white bride's cake?  And no groom's cake shaped like half a bottle of Budweiser Beer?!?"  (I actually had to do a couple of those...sigh)
  

Anyway, Steve wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Again, in the south, that simply isn't done..."people will talk..."

(Remember the red velvet groom's cake in the movie "Steel Magnolias" in the shape of an armadillo??  I LOVED that, but didn't want one at my wedding...not even in Texas!)

But I digress...

I decided to just frost the cake, decorate it with piped borders, and let the florist put fresh flowers on and around it.  It was simple, pretty, and delicious.

Well, we all had a little too much fun at the dinner the night before the wedding, so even though I had the cake layers baked, I did not start frosting and decorating until after midnight.  

To my horror, I realized I was low on cocoa, milk and chopped pecans, which I was putting between the layers.  One of my brothers was dispatched to the Kroger, the only real grocery store on Galveston Island where we lived, to procure the needed ingredients.

Well, the grocery store closed at midnight.  My brother, thinking of bribery, knocked on the door until a stock boy came to see what he wanted.  My brother handed him $20, carefully explaining that he needed cocoa, nuts, and milk, and told him he could keep the change.

My brother returned with a bag of coconut, and couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell the story...he's hilarious...not.  To this day, he still talks about that twenty dollar bag of coconut.

I ended up modifying my plan and managed to make just enough lighter chocolate frosting to frost the layers and pipe the borders...I did not use the coconut.

The cake was still delicious, and we have such a fun, stupid story to remember about our special day.  There are no Norman Rockwell occasions, are there?  I think it's better that way...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Headless Halloween cat and new music blocks...

Doesn't Weasley's rear end look like a big PUMPKIN?  I was contemplating cutting out felt triangles to gently set on his fur for a picture when he got bored and escaped...party pooper...

I have been prepping my pieces for two more music blocks...the fermata sign and tenor clef.

They are wreath-like block designs and will accompany the two blocks I previously made with the treble and bass clefs (Baltimore Rhapsody music quilt project) in a small quilt with the blocks set 2 x 2.  I know there are people out there who ordered my cello block, and they are looking for the tenor clef design to go with their quilt schemes.  Soon and very soon!

It wouldn't be a Halloween post without me complaining about making costumes for my family.  This year is compounded by Youmacon (Detroit's version of Comicon), happening this weekend.  

Riley's costumes will include "The Watchman" (graphic novel character, which will include the mask we are making below), "Mrs. Lovett" (twisted character from "Sweeney Todd," who makes tasty pies from people), and "Glados" (evil female computer character from the "Portal" computer game).  I miss the days of Tinkie Winkie, Dorothy, Disney princesses, and Harry Potter costumes!  Sigh...my daughter is such a nerd...   :o)

Happy Halloween!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

Mmmm...Chocolate wedding cake...

We were remembering our wedding on our 20th anniversary last week and remembering that we only had one cake at the reception...chocolate, which totally bucks the trend, especially 20 years ago...more on that when I post the next "CONTENTMENT" block...

There is a saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  Well, I love the method I use for prepping my hand applique, but I am not beyond tweaking when necessary.

I really like glue basting my little bits together and/or to backgrounds after using my trusty Elmer's glue stick to temporarily turn the little edges under.  When I used to use pins, snagging my applique thread on those pins used to make me completely mental.  

Swapping to glue basting instead of pinning was a natural step, since I already soak my block to remove the glue stick.

Roxanne's Glue Baste has always been my glue of choice for this step.  I love how fast things adhere, even immediately after doing the "dot-dot-not-a-lot" routine and smashing things together.

Where I wanted to tweak things is at the soak step.  It takes no time to dissolve the glue stick and get that out of the way.  The Roxanne's little glue dots take longer to dissolve.  I can usually see them through the background when everything is wet and I can monitor how much longer the soaking step has to take.

But I am impatient.

I decided to experiment with some Elmer's liquid school glue.  It is supposed to be VERY washable.  The biggest problem for me was the applicator.  The traditional twisty orange cap is very clumsy if you are looking to make tiny little glue drops.  

I ordered some empty glue applicator bottles with needle tips from the Internet.

Things don't stick together as well when the glue is wet, but seem to be fine once I allow time for some drying (but I am impatient...sigh).  The glue is thinner than the Roxanne's, probably to make it dissolve faster for preschool teachers who are dealing with a glue-in-the-hair situation.

The glue has that bluish look to it...kind of like looking at skim milk after you have been using 2%.

The empty bottles came in a bag of six, so I might try some regular Elmer's glue (which will also soak and wash away).

I love results, but I need to also love the process.  It never hurts to do a little experimenting and tweaking!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)